Leaning back in my lawn chair enjoying the slight sun that was hitting my face. I waved my hand causing a small blue grape bush to sprout right next to me. I picked the fruit off one by one and ate those sweet morsels slowly.
“Lord Duke, how is the fruit? Is there anything else I can do for you,” Said a man with his head bowed as he fanned me with a giant leaf.
His head was covered in white hair and the matching long white heard. His robe was green but I felt like I knew him but couldn’t put my finger on where.
“Could you fan a little faster it’s getting a little hot,” I responded feeling like an ancient Roman emperor.
“Yes, Lord-” the man stopped before yelling, “DUKE, I’M A GOD NOT YOUR SERVANT!” The man looked up revealing the man was Rick the God of Life and Nature!
“Oh shit,” I shouted before running away and hoping he wouldn’t hold a grudge.
“Good try,” I heard him whisper in my ear as a giant tree, 10 meters high, grew and grew right in front of me.
I couldn’t stop and smacked face-first into it, knocking me out, and making me open my eyes again jumping. I looked around and saw that I was back in the forest.
“Woo, it was only a dream,” I sighed in relief plopping down, breathing heavily hearing my heart beat faster than ever before.
That’s when I heard the sound of ground break and looked next to me. Growing out of the ground was a small green vine-covered in thorns. It grew the length of my forearm and whipped my arm hard as hell, making that classic whip sound.
I jumped in pain yelling a string of words that would make a sailor blush, and I swear I heard Rick laughing on the wind. The vine started to wilt and recede back into the ground.
I shook my fist towards the sky and yelled, “I SWEAR ON YOUR NAME RICK I WILL FISH SLAP YOU ONE DAY!”
I took a few deep breaths as I looked around, and noticing that there was a lack of a certain furry friend. I would be worried but he’s a capable young fellow so I’ll give him a few hours before I go looking.
I sat opening my status and thinking things over.
Name- Duke Boones Gender- Male Race- Human Level- 2 (85%)
Shown Title: None
Titles: None
Perks: Minor Metamorphosis of Affinity
Primary Class: None
Secondary Class: None
Production Class: None
Stamina 49/50
Mana 10/20
Strength- 3 Dexterity- 6 Constitution- 5 Affinity- 20
Attunement- 2 Control-1
Skills-
Monster Taming Level 1/10 Mana Meditation Level 1/10
Mana Control Level 1/10
Blessings-
Blessing or Rick the God Of Nature and Life- +10 Affinity
“Hmm,” I mused out loud as I thought about what I should do.
It makes sense that I should try leveling up and getting more skills just so I can do more things. But what kind of skills there are or how to get better ones I don’t know. All I do know is that I can now control my mana, not well but I can make it do things now.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
I held out my hand and started making a ball of the gaseous substance. I stared and studied trying to figure out what to do with it. I tried stretching it out into a long rope-like...thing but it broke and dissipated as it got to about half a meter.
I tried this again and again, after about 10 tries I was tired and worn, with my mana almost empty, but there was a small ding that perked me up.
[-Through repeating action the skill [Mana control] levels up]
[-Reward, gaining 1 Control stat point and 15% exp]
[Congratulations on level up!]
[-Congratulations you level up! Rewarded 2 stat points.]
Even though I was mentally exhausted and my body sagged down I perked up instantly and smiled wide. I thought about where to put my extra points, and affinity made sense but it was way too high up there so I put one into strength and the other into control.
I didn’t immediately feel any stronger after putting in the stat point but I don’t think sitting is a good strength test. I chuckled as I stood stretching out my arms and massaging out the crick in my neck.
I made a little X in the dirt with my foot before walking out of the forest into the meadow. I plucked up long grass and lots of flowers, blues, yellows, and reds before I returned to my little home base under the trees.
I might be dog tired but crown-making always helped me feel better. I sorted everything out, slowly finding the right flowers. That’s when I started doing it, I started weaving together the grass and flowers. I was working furiously, quickly forgetting about my exhaustion.
Time passed as I carefully focused on weaving together the flowers, feeling as if a part of me was being put into the materials. I focused until I tied the last little knot and a few dings happened.
[-Through repeating action the skill [Weaving] is made]
[-Due to learning common skill on your own you gain 10% exp]
[-Through repeating special action the skill [Minor Enhancement is made]
[-Due to learning uncommon skill on your own you gain 20% exp]
[Item Completed]
[Common Grade Flower Crown]
[A flower crown with decent craftsmanship, common grade materials, and imbued slightly with the mana of a person that has gone through the first metamorphosis of affinity creates a common grade crown.]
[Effect Crown will not wilt for 3 months]
“I MADE A THING WOOO,” I yelled in excitement, “Hey wait, when did I imbue mana into it?” It doesn’t really matter because I made this thing!
I switched the crowns and threw the old one onto a branch in the tree as I celebrated slightly. I was jumping and whooping but I stopped dead still as an idea clicked into place.
I put my hand out and let my mana flow again but this time I didn't gather it into one mass. Instead, I let it form 3 threads, the width of a finger. They barely worked their way out before falling apart. So I tried again and again slowly they started moving together and staying together.
[-Through repeating action the skill [Mana control] levels up]
[-Reward, gaining 1 Control stat point and 15% exp]
Slowly I wove the threads under and over, in and out like what I did with the grass and flowers. Slowly the threads formed a rope that stretched half a meter and stayed in its form. When I thought I was done and I was releasing the mana, I felt a major disconnect. The rope fell to the ground with a weighty “wumpf”. I looked a lot more solid but this time I had the smallest connection to it through mana. Then there was a ding!
[-Through repeating action the skill [Mana Weaving] is made]
[-Due to learning uncommon skill on your own you gain 30% exp]
[Mana Item Made]
[Weak Rope: A simple rope made out of mana that can last with a little bit of weight pulling it]
As I read I heard the rustling of grass and leaves. Looking over to see Hansey carrying some kind of bird in his mouth. He pranced over and dropped the bird carefully at my feet and looked up as if waiting for praise.
“You did good,” I laughed out motioning him to sit in my lap.
He jumped in and started rubbing his face all over me, so I responded to this behavior with lots of pets and aggressive baby voices.
We played like that for a moment before I had a great idea. I put Hansey to my side and grabbed my all-new rope and held it in front of his face.
He latched on with his mouth and started pulling it away from me. I started pulling back and he pulled harder, getting down low using all of his might to try and pull it away from me. I got down low and started pulling with my legs but it was nothing but a stalemate.
Tens of minutes passed as we did our back and forth. Both of us grew tired and breathed heavily. We started to slowly weaken up and let go little by little until the rope fell to the ground and we collapsed to the ground in a mess of sweat and exhaustion.
I lay there before eyeing all of my leftover grass and flowers. Smirking evilly I jumped up and started using my hand to measure Hansey’s head. Then I started weaving together the flowers and grass until there was a much smaller version of my crown. This time I tried imbuing mana into the flowers and grass and felt the same feeling like a part of me was going into the materials.
I ignored the notifications as they were basically the same as my flower crown. Slowly I rested the crown on Hansey’s head making sure to carefully go over his ears.
As soon as I took my hands off he jumped and acted like a little kid that just got a new toy and wanted to show it off. He presented his head and did different poses as if to say “Look at how good I look”.
I clapped and smiled with satisfaction seeing how he liked it. When he was done I wrapped him up in a hug which he purred and yipped at.
I looked at the bird and immediately devastation covered my face as I whispered, “Why didn’t I learn how to butchered chickens.”